Ed Miliband has come under fire from his neighbours over his plans for a Mansion Tax

It is the flagship Labour policy that has divided Ed Miliband’s party, and now his neighbours have come out in revolt over his controversial Mansion Tax.

Full details of the annual levy on homes worth more than £2million are yet to be released. But Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has revealed that those in the first band of the new tax – with homes worth between £2million and £3million – will be billed up to £250 a month or £3,000 a year.

But the policy found few supporters when The Mail on Sunday called on the Labour leader’s neighbours, who have all seen their large houses soar in value in recent years.

Some residents living in the North London street – where Mr Miliband lives in a £2.6million home bought in his barrister wife’s name in 2009 for £1.6million – say they may not be able to afford the tax.

Most are pensioners who bought their homes decades ago for a fraction of the price they are now worth, leaving them asset rich but with a meagre income.

One said: ‘I bought my house for £2,300 in 1959, I have only my pension to live on and I might be forced to sell up.’

Labour says the tax would raise £1.2billion a year for the NHS and insists it is fair, though 95 per cent of the 100,000 affected households would be in the South East.

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Those on low incomes could defer paying the tax until they sell their home, but the Labour leader faces a mounting rebellion with Lord Mandelson labelling the tax a ‘crude, short-term’ measure and Glenda Jackson, Labour MP, saying it would have a ‘disastrous’ impact on vulnerable pensioners.

Many of those living cheek-by-jowl with Mr Miliband seem to agree.

'Blunderbuss Tax': Richard Skinner says many couldn't afford to pay

'Pensioners will have to sell up'

1978: Bought for £37,500

2015: Now worth £2.5million

Mansion Tax up to: £3,000 a year

Retired public health doctor Richard Skinner has been living in the street with his wife, professional pianist Ann Shasby, for more than 35 years, raising their children in the eight-bedroom property.

The 71-year-old said: ‘Ostensibly it is taxing the people they think have broad shoulders. But that’s not true. The tax takes into account our asset – the house – but does not take into account our earnings, which are two pensions. For that reason, it’s a blunderbuss tax.

‘The concept has not been thought through. Lots of people in this road won’t be able to afford to pay the tax, lots of them are pensioners or professional people whose wealth is chiefly in their house. The tax will have a devastating effect on people’s retirement plans, because they won’t have the ability to pay it and will be forced out of their homes.’

'It won't be worth me working'

2014: Bought for £2.5million

2015: Now worth £2.8million

Mansion Tax up to: £3,000 a year

An A&E doctor (who does not wish to be named) works at a busy London hospital, and she and her husband were wary about Mansion Tax plans when they bought their house a few doors down from Mr Miliband two months ago.

The 42-year-old, who has four young children, said: ‘I suppose I think Labour will never get in, so we went ahead. I work part-time and if it was a significant amount of extra money, then off-setting it and the cost of childcare against what I earn would mean it was not worth me working, so I would probably resign. The tax is a political tool and a load of rubbish. I’ve voted Labour all my life, but I will never vote for them again.’

'People in this street are retired, not rich'

Ridiculous: Tony MacIntyre lives next door to the Labour leader

1990: Bought for £300,000

2015: Now worth £2.6million

Mansion Tax up to: £3,000 a year

Ed Miliband may soon have to say goodbye to his next-door neighbour, as Tony MacIntyre, 64, is thinking of downsizing from his five-bedroom house to avoid the tax.

The retired architect is getting divorced, and with his children now grown up, he says he would be tempted to move if the tax were introduced.

When he bought the house 25 years ago, it was for him and his wife to raise their two children and he never dreamt it would appreciate so much in value.

Speaking on the steps of the three-storey townhouse, he said: ‘I am not a rich man, but I live in a big house and therefore I am being unfairly targeted. It is a grotesquely unfair tax, and is essentially a tax for Londoners, as the majority of people who fall into it live in the city.

‘I am usually a Labour voter, but I am not sure what I will be voting in this Election. If Ed Miliband is voted in and it is introduced I may move to avoid it. This road is full of professional people – or retired people – but they are not rich people. It is ridiculous to think they are. The tax should be levied through council tax, perhaps revise the different bands, that would be fairer.

‘One or two of the larger houses in the street have been sold and are being done up, with loft extensions and sub-basements opened up, these will be the ones that are bought by super millionnaires, who are rich and deserve to be taxed, not us.’

Mr MacIntyre added: ‘Sometimes Mr Miliband does interviews standing outside my house instead of his – I think he likes the fact that it has a red front door.’

Division: Ed Miliband's house (left) and Tony MacIntyre's (right) with a red door

'We bought a home, not an investment'

Artist Craig Murray-Orr says the Mansion Tax is a 'robbery'

1975: Bought for £17,000

2015: Now worth £2million

Mansion Tax up to: £3,000 a year

Living just round the corner is artist Craig Murray-Orr. The 72-year-old, who lives with his wife, said: ‘It’s nothing short of robbery. It is grotesque that they would attack people who are asset rich but not necessarily rich in terms of income.

‘We don’t own this house as an investment, it is our home. What are we supposed to do – move out? If you own something you shouldn’t have to continue to pay tax on it. It’s ridiculous.

‘This is a very liberal Guardian-reader area but they are all champagne socialists. They are not exactly manning the barricades. I’m not sure Ed Miliband has the people’s backing around here on this stupid policy.

‘I have voted Labour in the past, but not for a long time, I certainly won’t be voting for them in this Election.’

PS There was ONE happy neighbour...

He said: ‘Something like the Mansion Tax is needed, to get the NHS financed. I bought this house in 1966 for £9,000 and if I were to sell it I’d make more money than I have earned in my life. It’s like a windfall, so I don’t mind paying the tax for that reason.’

'Needed': Retired art teacher Ken Adams said he backed the idea of the Mansion Tax

It is easy to mock Ed Miliband when he struggles to eat a bacon sandwich

Let me make a confession: I like and admire Ed Miliband. This is not a view widely shared by my fellow Conservative MPs on the Government benches in the House of Commons.

Many will tell you he is the worst Labour leader since Michael Foot, and that the only likely outcome after the May 7 Election is that the man standing on the steps of No 10 with his arms raised in victory will be David Cameron.

So why do I, a Member of Parliament who proudly still classes himself as a Thatcherite, the very opposite of everything that Marxist academic’s son Ed Miliband stands for, leap to his defence?

Of course, it is easy to mock him as a Mr Bean-type figure when he struggles to eat a bacon sandwich without looking silly. But if that disqualifies him from being Prime Minister, then it disqualifies most people elected to Parliament.

And there is another, more private, side to Mr Miliband. It is not uncommon for a leader to send a handwritten note, text or word of congratulation for a particular speech or question in Westminster to a colleague. Such gestures can turn alliances into affection on your own side.

Certainly, it is much less common for them to do so to a member of another party.

I know that Mr Miliband has done this on a number of occasions. I have spoken to him a number of times, and while the difference in our political views is as wide as a chasm, I have always found him open-minded, polite, engaging and eager to exchange views.

As I speak, Conservative knives are being sharpened ready to slice Mr Miliband’s personal reputation to shreds in the Election campaign in the belief that he is Labour’s weakest link.

I hope this does not happen. Regardless of his political flaws, he is a good and decent man.

Mr Miliband deserves attack – but for his political views, not his personal foibles.

This brings me to the second reason I admire the Labour leader. We are often told modern political leaders have no real beliefs and are merely the product of public relations snake oil merchants and spin doctors.

But no one can accuse Mr Miliband of lacking conviction.

Although I respect him personally and for his sincerely held views, it does not mean I agree with them. Far from it.

There is a real danger that by focusing all our fire on Mr Miliband as a joke, we take our eyes off the genuine threat he poses.

Mr Miliband in No 10 would be anything but a laughing matter.

'Good and decent man': Mr Miliband deserves attack – but for his political views, not his personal foibles

His political outlook was forged on the knee of his intellectually socialist father, and many of his policy positions remain infused by that world view.

Not long ago he was asked by a man if he was going to ‘bring back socialism’. He replied: ‘That is what we are doing, sir.’

It isn’t just rhetoric. Look at his policy.

A company owns land and feels it is not the right time to develop it. Mr Miliband thinks that the State should have the right to take that land off the company.

In the energy market, Mr Miliband thinks the State should step in and fix prices.

Who would have thought after Thatcher and then Blair, Labour could have a leader talking in terms that those who advocated a 1970s-style prices and incomes policy would recognise?

Yet far too many people write him off as somehow not serious, as the political equivalent of the character Wallace from Wallace and Gromit.

Surely the country won’t elect him. Just look at the opinion polls where his ratings lag way behind David Cameron as a potential PM.

But we’ve been here before.

Mrs Thatcher’s own ratings in 1979 were way behind those of Labour Prime Minister ‘Sunny Jim’ Callaghan and we all know how that ended. Nor does the parallel end there. In addition to her political convictions, Lady T was renowned for her personal touch – she never forgot a name or a birthday.

And behind Mr Miliband’s courtesy is his ruthlessness and his determination, a desire to win and win at any price.

I believe if he does become Prime Minister, he would lead a quietly determined and rather dogmatic Government.

I also firmly believe it would be a disaster for Britain.

So while liking and admiring him, I also want to stop him.

My party has three months to do that. We shouldn’t underestimate the size of the challenge we face. If we fail, Britain and her people will pay a heavy price.

There is no doubt Ed Miliband poses a serious threat to Britain. But to defeat him, we must take him seriously.